Several people asked me recently if I had read any Michael Connelly. I hadn’t, so I read The Drop.

Harry Bosch is a cop who retired and then returned to work on the Open Unsolved unit. He is asked to take over another team’s case when DNA tests on the blood from an old rape and murder show that it comes from a sex offender who was only eight years old at the time.

Harry thinks he has a viable suspect in a man who was briefly the boyfriend of the sex offender’s mother, when he is told to drop the case. A city councilman who has always been his enemy has asked for him to investigate the apparent suicide of his son.

Harry begins to find what looks like corruption in city government, so he must tread carefully. In the course of the case, he also has reason to doubt both his current partner, David Chu, and his previous one, Kiz Rider.

The plot is reasonably interesting if you can get past the choppy writing, tendency to state the obvious, and unconvincing dialog. The problems in Harry’s growing affection for a program director for a rehabilitation center also seem contrived and premature, given the newness of their relationship. After all the raves about Connelly, I found him a disappointment.